Recipes, plans and spells represent the lore necessary to perform some in-game actions. They can take on forms suitable for their specific application. For example a carpenter needs blueprints, a cook needs recipes, a wizard needs spell-scrolls, a blacksmith needs plans, and so on. Players must posses this information in the form of appropriate "lore" as a key component to creating items, casting spells or performing certain actions. Generally, but not always, lore-items are written documents or engraved items. Examples are a magical scroll, an engraved tablet or a rune stick.

Transcribing or copying of lore cause tiny imperfections to creep into the information. These imperfections result in a corresponding errors in any final products produced using the lore. Copies of copies are further degraded and so on. There can be at most 5 levels of copies with each level reducing the quality by 10 percent. The original version is a 100 percent version. A copy of the original is a 90 percent version. The next level is (90*0.9) = 81 percent. The next level is (81 * 0.9) = 72.9 percent. Some lore will have different transfer degregation rates, greater or lesser than the standard 10 percent reduction depending on the unique situation.

Sometimes NPCs which can dispense lore as the result of training or the completion of a quest. In this case it might be that the NPC will have an original version of the lore with a quality rating higher than 100 percent, so that they might bequest an original 100 percent quality version to the player.

There is some lore deemed so special and rare that it will be impossible to transfer it to another player. You could think of this as the lore having a transfer degredation rate of 100 percent.

There are rumors of lore so powerful that it will degrade over the time that it is possessed or used.

All lore is associated with one or more skills which are necessary to comprehend the information contained within the lore. Even if the lore is written in a language which a player can understand, if the player does not have the right skills then they will fail to comprehend or understand the information. The amount of skill the player acts as a modifier when copying the item. If the player does not have the required skill at all then the there is a 50 percent chance that the copy will be ruined. Even if the copy is not ruined it will be the lowest possible quality (50 percent). If the person doing the copying has the right skills then the amount of skill will act as a slight modifier to the copy, adjusting it down an additional 5 percent at the lowest level skill. -( (100%-PlayerSkill) * 5%). For example if a literate paladin stumbled across a magical scroll and penned a copy for his wizard friend, then even through he understands the language it is written in. he doesn`t comprehend the context and sementics of what he is copying, thus it is easy for him to make mistakes, use the wrong word, mislable an important diagram, etc.

All lore is written in a language. The degree to which a player can read that language acts as a modifier on the quality of the result in using that it. So if the lore is at 72.9 percent quality and it is written in Elvish and you are 70 percent literate in Elvish then the item/effect produced by using the lore is 51 percent. There are many "dead" languages which some ancient lore is recorded in. Researching and learning these languages will be an important step for many players who wish to increase the quality of their work. When trascribing a lore from one language to another you must have at least a 50 percent proficiency in both source and target languages to even attempt the copy. Your proficiency in source and destination languages act as a modifier to the quality of the copy, with a max of 5 percent degregation for esch language. (Quality Adjustment = ( 5% * (50%-SourceLanguageProficiency)) + ( 5% * (50%-DestinationLanguageProficiency))

When a player create and/or receives an original lore (a 100 percent item) then that instantiation of the lore becomes attributed to them. Inscribed on the lore is the character`s name. All copies, or copies of copies will forever have that character`s name inscribed at the "bottom" of the lore. The inscription will take on a flavor appropriate for the lore type and how it was obtained. It is in effect a "Laud" that will last for as long as people keep and use copies. Examples might be `Researched by Dilvish" or "Penned by Goggle Irontoe". This differs from the "scribed" attribute of the knoweldge item, which is the standard "watermark" of the person who made the copy. This "Laud" actually serves a useful purpose beyond fame. A copy of the original will always be in higher demand than a copy of a copy of a copy. By obtaining an original version and selling copies, your "intellectual property" becomes an asset with free advertisment. People will travel to you just to purchase a higher quality copy than they one they have.

There is a second level of attribution. This level is a bit more complicated but represents accolades for being the first person to ever discover the lore. Each person can have at most 3 such attributions per character. So for example, if Dilvish discovers a varient of a spell which is called "Creeping Crud" then it can be re-named `Dilvish`s Creeping Crud" This becomes a permanent title for the lore, even if that piece of lore is "re-discovered" by other mages. Some lore will be pre-marked with attributions of "long dead" people, or will be marked as "unattributable" because it represents what we would consider core and/or standard and pervasive lore. The directions to build a steel sword would not be attributable, but "Kenjiro Watered Steel" might be. Obviously this would require some GM interaction and/or approval.

Where does lore come from? The reason why we have such an elaborate system to handle copies of lore is that it is desirable to have lore spread widely and to have it obtainable by even the most casual player, albiet at a reduced effectiveness. Formulas and locations and ingredient lists can be spoiled on the web, which ultimately serves no one. So the objective is to have original lore obtained through mechanisms which cannot be exactly reproduced by others but which does not involve tedium. It is also important that obtaining original lore not be the exclusive domain of the power leveler. The number one rule about original lore is that you must obtain it yourself. You cannot give away an original lore. This means that people who obtain the lore themselves have an advantage to those that buy it. Here is a non-exclusive list on how lore might be obtained.

1. Result of a static initiated solo quest. At least a portion of the quest would be dynamically generated for each participant to ensure that no spoiler site can hand out directions on how to obtain the lore. An example can be found here : Mageling. This is a static initiated quest because there is a known (and spoilable) starting point.

2. Result of a dyamically initiated solo quest. This would be when the server determines that you need a little "love" and has an NPC approach you to start the quest. No 2nd level lore attributions should be awarded in this type of solo quest.

3. Passing a Trial. Each profession will have a series of Trial`s which are administered by their leaders and sages. The trial`s are dynamically generated solo situations where the student must prevail using their skills. If they succeed then one of the rewards can be some original lore, as well as perhaps an increase in title.

4. Archeology. How much old lore is buried out there in the world? Does that old dungeon contain any lost secrets? Does that cave have and old buried wizard clutching his last spell in one boney hand? Well akin to prospecting for minerals and ore, players can constantly be on the lookout for lore using various mechanisms. Wizards might cast special spells of revealing, scrying and divination, leading them slowely to a location where the lore is. Cooks might find the remains of a meal cooked 3 generations ago and frozen into the tundra. Paladins could find the description of an ancient diarming technique chisled into the stone of a long abandoned fort on the edges of the known world.

5. Reverse-engineering. This method entails taking an item, like a sword, staff or piece of armor and seeking to discern how it was made. Perhaps the sword was from the hoarde of a dragon. The Hero takes the sword to a blacksmith who examins the sword for clues on how the sword was made. He learns some, but not all about how such swords are made. As he examines other items made by other people and items found from old sites or dropped from monsters he gains insight into how certain types of items are made. When finally he believes he knows how to make a certain item he must dismantle (and in the process destroy) an item. If he is successful then he scribes the "plans" (an 100 percent lore). Where upon he can make that item again.

6. Observation. Certain lore can be obtained through the observation of someone using the lore. There would have to be various governers on this technique to stop people from powerleveling through observation. Generally this as a way for people to partially learn about something through overservation, and then finish and complete their learning through a secondary mechanism. In other words it is a two part puzzle. The key to unlocking the second part of the puzzle is having partial lore. An example: Equinoxe observes Rotag performing a certain disarming technique. Rotag tells Equinoxe that he first learned of the technique when observing the frog monks of Tibol. Equinoxe files that away in his memory. A few weeks later he joins an expedition to Tibol and spends several days in campaigns against the monks. He would occasionally step back from combat and "observe" the fighting style of opponants. In particular he concentrated on learning "Monk`s Flat Blade Defense" which reminded him of what Rotag had done. A few weeks later he came in contact with an old tome which had a partial description of the defense, but because he already had a good idea of how it worked he was able to write up a complete description and create a 100 percent lore. The trick to this is that the "observe" time builds up your lore comprehension modifier for that lore (in this case a technique). You cannot understand the second part of the trained without the first part. The second part could very well be an NPC trainer who won`t talk to you until you had this observation under your belt. Whats nice about this technique is it requires "field research". I also think there needs to be some limitations to "observation mode". Perhaps you can only engage in defense if you are attempting to "observe" your opponant, and perhaps it drains your endurance/power faster in this mode.

It is very likely that new new lore could be introduced into the world and have it never be discovered. Or someone might find it but they cannot read it or comprehend it, thus it is lost. All lore (spells, recipies, poisons, formula, etc) will be tracked by the server so that new instantiations can be re-introduced as needed. Some puzzles will be static and therefore spoilable. An example might be a rune covered rock at the bottom of a lich infested dungeon. It might be months before someone with the right skills and languages can decipher it and make a lore (scroll, etc) from it. But once that is done the mystery is gone and it will be listed somewhere on a spoil site. Nontheless, a few notable challenges which everyone does is also a way players measure themselves against each other. It also forms a common ground for discussion as in "I finally survived the Tomb of Darkness to research Nath`s Spell of Night- woot!"